US Sanctions Venezuela: 'Freedom' for Oil, But Not Their Own
Bloomberg points to a 'zombie ship' as proof President Trump is 'targeting the darkest corner of the oil fleet' in Venezuela. This framing ignores the elephant in the room: decades of U.S. sanctions and attempted regime change operations designed to cripple Venezuela's oil industry in the first place. From the 2002 coup attempt to the current sanctions on PDVSA, the goal has consistently been to
control—or choke—Venezuela's vast oil reserves, not merely regulate 'dark corners.' (One might call that 'projecting'). The current 'crisis' Bloomberg highlights isn't an organic market failure, but a direct consequence of policies orchestrated by consecutive U.S. administrations, aiming to reshape the country's leadership. When a nation is strangled economically, they adapt. Calling their
resilience 'dark' is a conveniently moralizing rhetorical flourish for U.S. foreign policy failures. How many ships have to become 'zombies' before we acknowledge the hand creating the undead?